Haiti President Jovenel Moïse on Sunday announced the arrest of 23 people accused of attempting a coup to overthrow his government and assassinate him. The arrestees include a former presidential candidate, a high-ranking police inspector and a judge of the Supreme Court.
Moïse made the announcement on the alleged coup d’état in a Facebook Live video at a runway of the Port-Au-Prince airport with his wife where they were going to board a flight to Jacmel to inaugurate the annual carnival celebration. He said that the alleged plot had begun in November and that his presidential guard had foiled their attempts to remove him from power and kill him.
According to Haiti officials, the coup plotters were arrested during a police operation at a house in the Tabarra area of Port-Au-Prince. Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe has said that authorities have seized abundant evidence from the scene, including cash, assault rifles, machetes ad machine guns. Justice Minister Rockefeller Vincent has also said that they have recovered a speech allegedly prepared by the Supreme Court Judge Yvickel Dabrézil that he intended to deliver if he was made interim president. He also accused the inspector general of colluding with top security officials at the National Palace to get the president arrested.
The spate of arrests follows a series of announcements by opposition leaders calling to replace Moïse because they believe that his term has ended. According to Article 134(1) of Haiti’s Constitution, the president has a term of five years beginning and ending on February 7 following the date of elections. Moïse was elected in the October 2015 elections, but its results were annulled due to fraud. He won again in the 2016 elections and was sworn in on February 7, 2017. The tussle between the opposition and Moïse’s supporters is over the year of his ascent to office, with the former claiming that his term began in February 2016 while the latter claims that his term began a year later, in February 2017.
The country’s constitutional crisis is escalating with civil disobedience protests on the streets and the opposition nominating Magistrate Joseph Mecene Jean Louis as the interim president. The Superior Judicial Council has already ruled that Moïse’s term has expired and has further expressed concern over the “serious threats resulting from the lack of a political agreement”.
